History of the Joker from The Dark Knight.
Origin and Early Life[]
No one knows who the Joker really was, and little could ever be confirmed about his early life before he turned to a life of crime. Despite his capture, no traces could be found on his fingerprints, dental records, or DNA matches against the GCPD's databases. The Joker's testimony, while normally quite true when it came to carrying out threats, seemed at times contradictory, and he was known to give conflicting accounts at times when describing past events in his life, more specifically how he got the scars of his characteristic Glasgow smile. Therefore, there is nothing indicating that anything from his past is true.
One of his anecdotes told of his extremely abusive and intoxicated father, stating that after attacking his mother with a knife, the blade was next turned on the young man, creating his mutilated smile. The fact that the Joker later referenced his father and his hatred of him to a party guest while crashing Harvey Dent's party implies that at the very least, he did have an extremely poor relationship with his father. Another story he told was when his gambling wife told him not to worry so much and that he should smile more. This advice went overhead when she had her face carved up by enforcers of loan sharks, and the couple discovered that they didn't have enough money to pay for surgery. In a desperate effort to assure his wife that he did not care about the damage to her appearance, he took a razor to his cheeks to make his Glasgow smile match hers, but the disturbing image instead caused his wife to leave him, damaging his psyche.
It is not revealed to what degree these stories hold truth if any. The Joker himself may be unaware of his true origins. Some psychological profiles of the Joker indicate that he is insane to such an extent that he reinvents both his psyche and history daily. It is therefore possible that, if neither story is true, he genuinely believed both as he told them.
In a report filed by the GCPD, there were three theories presented for Joker's identity and origin. The first was that Joker was an escaped patient from Arkham Asylum. However, that theory was debunked on the basis that his identity had no place within any records. The second theory was that Joker was a former employee of the Harley Brothers Circus, which was documented to have connections with the mob. It was reasonable to theorize that Joker was a disgruntled former employee that had bad business with the mob. The third theory presented was that Joker was a former soldier who suffered from acute PTSD who has developed a disdain for society and order itself and vows to spread chaos to spite the system over using him and abandoning him. All of this explains his unusually cool demeanor and familiarity with weapons, as well as his devastating effectiveness in various forms of combat. It also explains why his cunning rivals and possibly surpasses that of even Batman.
Batman Begins[]
Shortly after the death of Ra's al Ghul, Batman discusses with Lt. Jim Gordon the effect that he has made on Gotham City since his appearance. Gordon then reveals that a criminal with a "taste for the theatrical" has recently committed a double homicide and an armed robbery, and leaves behind a Joker playing card as a "calling card". Gordon also warns that, just as escalation occurs in terms of a Police Force against crime, so might the scale and style of criminality change in reaction to Batman's appearance.
Sometime later, Joker orchestrates the theft of a large shipment of ammonium nitrate from the Gotham Docks. The explosive chemical is saved for storage in the Gotham General Hospital and on two passenger ferries sometime later. In addition, Joker also frequently attends the various heists and crimes that his gang commits while disguised as one of the accomplices, which is believed to be at least partially where he got his name from.
Gotham National Bank Robbery[]
Several months later, a group of bank robbers under the direction of the Joker, rob the Gotham National Bank which is used as a money-laundering front for Gotham's gangs. The clown mask-wearing robbers whittle down their own numbers within minutes in a series of calculated betrayals. Finally, only "Bozo" remains, who reveals himself as the Joker to the Gotham Bank Manager, who had earlier confronted the robbers with a shotgun. In addition, largely because he can't resist appearing on-camera, Joker deliberately unmasks himself in front of a surveillance camera and posed.
The Joker then escapes with the bank's cash in a yellow school bus, conceals his identity by driving within a convoy of other school buses, and also leaves the bank manager at the mercy of a gas grenade stuck in his mouth.
The Joker states that he won't kill Batman because he is simply too much “fun” and Batman won't kill him because of his “moral obligation.” In the film, instead of trying to kill Batman, the Joker attempts to show Gotham and subsequently Batman that anyone can be as bad as him under the right circumstances.
"Kill the Batman"[]
Dealing with the Mob[]
Shortly following the bank robbery, Salvatore Maroni mentions the Joker's recent theft of mob-owned cash to his fellow crime leaders at a business meeting, who dismiss him as a threat and said that he is a "nobody" who wears "a cheap purple suit and make-up," despite the amount of money stolen. The Joker overhears that comment and the plan presents to the Mob by corrupt Chinese accountant Lau and arrives unannounced at the meeting while he fakes a laugh, as he sees their "so-called plan" as a bad joke. The mobsters are at first unwilling to hear him out, and Gambol, one of the crime lords who seems to take the most dislike for the Joker, sends one of his men to take him out by force.
The Joker unexpectedly performs a magic trick by making a pencil "disappear;" embedding the pencil in the table, and Gambol's man head-first into the pencil where it indeed disappears inside the man's head, instantly killing him. The Joker also mentions that his suit isn't cheap and that they ought to know that since they bought it, meaning that he had used the money that he stole at the start of the film to buy his suit. Joker proposes that it is Batman's interference that resulted in idealistic leaders like Harvey Dent rising in popularity, and offers his services to kill him for half of all the money that Lau, an illegitimate Chinese accountant, took away from Gotham for safekeeping. Joker also warns the Mob that Lau wills betray them if he is arrested, and claims to know a squealer when he sees one. While the Bratva mobster, the Chechen and Maroni are interested, Gambol, angered by the Joker's lack of respect, attempts to attack him, which forces the Joker to reveal his insurance policy: several grenades hidden under his coat rigged to blow, which allows him to make a quick escape. Frustrated, Gambol proceeds to put a bounty on the Joker: $500,000 dead or $1 million alive so he can "teach him some manners first."
Assassination of Gambol[]
The Joker later takes revenge that night by having his men come to Gambol and claim that they killed the Joker whose "dead body" they drag inside in a body bag. However, the Joker is actually alive and attacks Gambol who he holds at knifepoint and proceeds to tell him the origin of his mouth scars as a way of psychological torture and intimidation. Then, when Gambol is the most terrified and shaken, the Joker proceeds to kill him. With Gambol's men overpowered and at his mercy, Joker takes a pool cue, breaks it in half to make it spear-like, says that there is only one spot open at the moment to join his "team", throws the piece of a sharp stick in the middle of Gambol's scared men, and has his gang, made up mostly of mentally ill and unstable vicious crooks that escaped from Arkham Asylum who seem to have taken the Joker as their leader, make Gambol's men fight to the death with the stick until only one is left, and advises them to "make it fast."
Assault on Gotham[]
Proposing an Ultimatum[]
Joker eventually realizes that Batman had retrieved Lau from Hong Kong and that the police had struck a deal with him to testify against them. Sal Maroni and the Chechen relent and finally hire the Joker to kill Batman in return for half the mob's money. The Joker first kidnaps a Batman impersonator, films his murder, and hangs the body, complete with white make-up and Joker scars, outside the Mayor's Office. In the murder tape that he sent to the media, the Joker viciously mocks Brian Douglas (a Batman impersonator who was arrested along with Scarecrow by the real Batman at the beginning of the film), as well as terrorizing him to the point of leaving him absolutely frozen and weeping and taunting his beliefs and his actions.
Then, when he has finished humiliating and terrifying him, the Joker proceeds to give Gotham an ultimatum: Batman must take off his mask and turn himself over to the authorities and every day that Batman refuses to do so, he will murder innocent people day after day.
The Joker's Game[]
As a result of Batman not turning himself in, the first major victims are Janet Surrillo, the judge that presided over Dent's indictments, and then former GCPD Commissioner Loeb, the former via a car-bomb and the latter by inserting acid into the Commissioner's scotch, respectively.
Later, the Joker and his gang storm a fundraiser at Bruce Wayne's Penthouse to kill Harvey Dent but, when Joker is unable to get the guests to inform him of Dent's location, he decides to settle for killing off the guests. Joker then attempts to threaten an unafraid guest (whom he noted bears a resemblance to his own hated father), before he eventually attempts to kill Rachel Dawes.
Dawes attempts to drive Joker away, with a knee to the crotch, but he laughes it off and becomes more interested in killing her for her having "some fight in her." Joker is then confronted by Batman and the Joker only manages to escape by throwing Rachel Dawes out a window, who Batman then leaps after and saves. That encounter also leads him to initially suspect that Batman's true identity was Harvey Dent.
Attack on Mayor Anthony Garcia[]
The killings then continue with two innocents and an attempt on the Mayor's life at a memorial for the murdered Loeb. The Joker appears in public without makeup, impersonates one of the guards, and has most of his gang impersonate the rest of the Honor Guards. In order to further ensure that the GCPD is kept on its toes, Joker also places a sniper rifle on the window sill of the apartment room, as well as a timer to release the blinds for the GCPD sharpshooters to shoot at anyone hapless enough to be caught in the trap.
Afterwards, Joker, still disguised as an Honor Guard, shoots his rifle at the Mayor, and Gordon is struck in the back after he willfully leaps in front of Garcia, in order to fake his death to avoid any future attempt by the Joker of attacking him with his family at home. As a result of that, Batman tells Dent to call a press conference so he can reveal his identity and stop the killings. In a surprise move, Dent instead claims to be the Batman himself and is subsequently arrested.
First Standoff with Batman[]
While Dent was being transported to the GCPD, the Joker and his gang attack the caravan of police vehicles to kill Dent with his weapons. Batman soon arrives to stop the assault but stops himself from killing the Joker. The Joker prepares to unmask Batman, but Lt. Gordon steps behind him, aimed his shotgun at his back, and says: "We got you, you son of a bitch." The Joker is successfully jailed at MCU, and as a direct result, Lt. Jim Gordon is promoted to Commissioner by the Mayor with Joker even doing a sarcastic clap for the newly-promoted Commissioner.
Interrogation and Gotham Bombings[]
With the Joker in custody, Gordon and Batman believe his madness is over but become alarmed when informed that Harvey Dent has gone missing. Desperate, Gordon lets Batman interrogate the Joker for information, but the Joker seems unshaken by the pain. Instead, he gleefully tells Batman his view of people as selfish and violent, only needing a little pressure before descending into madness and murdering everyone around them. He also admits he can never kill Batman, considering him his only equal. Dent's kidnapping is part of a test, to see if Batman will save him or Rachel, whom the Joker can tell Batman cares for.
The Joker stops laughing when Batman intimidates him and is forced to tell him where both are located, and Batman heads over to Rachel's while Gordon and his men head over to Dent's, unaware that they are heading over to save the opposite person, part of the Joker's plan to orchestrate Dent's downfall. After most of the police are gone, the Joker takes his guard hostage and escapes by detonating a phone-activated bomb he surgically planted in the stomach of one of his men who was arrested with him, with Lau in tow. After failing to save Rachel and learning about the Joker's escape and Dent's near survival from getting the left side of his face burned away (with Batman's help), Gordon comes to the realization that it was a setup and that that Joker plans to be caught to obtain Lau and kill him.
In the hospital, Dent is driven to madness regarding the loss of Rachel and blames Batman, Gordon, and the Joker, feeling that Gordon's trust in the cops is part of the reason she died. That act causes Sal Maroni to tell Gordon the Joker's location, now finding him and his craziness "too much" for business. The Joker later meets the Chechen in a container ship with Lau and is given his reward: half of the Mob's smuggled money, which he casually burns along with Lau. Joker then betrays the Chechen and takes control of his men. He declares that Gotham deserved a new breed of criminal - one unmotivated by money or power, but who commit crime purely for fun.
The Joker then makes a call to a news program where Coleman Reese is threatening to go public on the news with information about Batman's identity. He is interrupted by the Joker who states that he changed his mind and believes that Gotham will be too boring without Batman. To "give others the fun", Joker threatens that, if someone doesn't kill Reese in sixty minutes, he will blow up a hospital. Gordon then abandons his ambush on the Joker to focus on evacuating all of the city's hospitals.
Enter Two-Face[]
“ | Introduce a little anarchy-upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos, it's "fair". | „ |
~ Joker persuading the disfigured Harvey Dent. |
During the mass evacuation, the Joker disguises himself as a nurse (still wearing his trademark face paint) and enters the hospital room of Harvey Dent. He first apologizes to Dent and maintains that he isn't responsible for Rachel’s death as he lacks any idea for the repercussions of his actions, while the restrained Dent attempts in vain to kill him. The Joker introduces the former D.A. to his view of the world that his time in Gotham has introduced him to, that people, or the "schemers" as he called them, are the truest form of evil in the world, as it is them who laid out the plans of society, including when human lives are expendable.
To prove his argument, Joker points out that. if his threats were aimed at 'gangbangers' or "soldiers", then people wouldn't really care as society trained them to see the death of such people as acceptable. Thus, Joker turns the disillusioned Dent against society and against the "schemers" who put his and Rachel’s lives in jeopardy, namely the corrupt cops who kidnapped them, as well as the "schemers" who viewed Rachel's life to be expendable, namely Batman and Gordon. After he gives Dent a gun, the Joker advises him to break away from the law that failed him and turn to chaos, which he describes as the only truly fair system, as the fate of everyone would be only decided by chance, without the interference of the flawed laws of Man. Dent responds by flipping a coin to decide the Joker's fate, which gave him the same chance that Rachel had. Soon after Dent left, Joker detonats the hospital and skips merrily away (pausing and hitting his detonator when most of the bombs temporarily fail to blow). He and his men then steal one of the nearby evacuation buses and kidnap the TV reporter and his crew inside.
Gotham Under His Rule[]
The Social Experiment[]
“ | Tonight you are all going to be part of a social experiment. For the magic of diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate, I am ready right now to blow you all sky high. Each of you has a remote to blow off the other boat. At midnight I blow you all up. If however one of you presses the button, I'll let that boat live. So whose it going to be? Harvey Dent's most wanted scumbag collection? Or the sweet and innocent civilians? Oh, and you might wanna decide quickly because the people on the other boat may not be quite so noble. | „ |
~ The Joker |
The Joker declares that he will rule the streets and that anyone left in Gotham will be subjected to his rule. Joker tells people that they can leave, but that he will have a surprise for them in the tunnel and on the bridge, which people then avoid and use two ferries instead: one ship full of ordinary civilians and one of the criminals, as Gordon fears the Joker would want to recruit them. However, the Joker has loaded each of the ferries with explosives, in the hopes of showing everyone how evil and corrupt they could be. Joker gives the passengers of each ship the detonator to the bombs to the other and offers both a chance at survival if they detonate the other ferry. If they don't choose by midnight, the Joker would then blow up both ships due to thinking that one of the groups will go through with it.
Batman discovers not only the Joker's location at an unfinished skyscraper but that the majority of his "gang" are actually hostages wearing clown-masks with unloaded guns that are taped to their hands and that the people dressed as the hostages are the actual criminals. Batman is forced to fight not only the Joker's men, but the SWAT teams (who try to stop him from interfering) as well in order to save the hostages.
Final Standoff and Arrest[]
Batman finally confronts the Joker, which leads to an intense fight between the two (with the Joker using a metal bar and a knife). Despite Batman's advanced technology and actual martial arts skill, Joker manages to get the upper-hand with his sheer unpredictability and his own smarts, and pins Batman under a piece of scaffolding. He gleefully waits as the ferry's deadline neared, and is visibly disappointed when both groups of passengers refuse to kill the other to save themselves. The civilians vote to blow up the other ferry but cannot bring themselves to actually do so, while one of the convicts on the other ferry steps forward, takes the detonator, throws it out a window, and says that the cops should have done that from the start. As the deadline passes, Batman asks the Joker if he is trying to prove that everyone is as ugly as him deep down, and bluntly informs him that he is alone in both his corruption and insanity. Before Joker can detonate both ferries, Batman hits him with his shooting wrist-blades and throws him over the edge. The Joker starts to laugh, no longer caring that his theory proved false as he falls, but Batman refuses to kill him, catches him with his Grapple Gun, and leaves him hanging for the police to capture, much to the Joker's rage.
With that act, the Joker acknowledges that Batman really is incorruptible, but that Dent is no longer the "White Knight". He unleashed the scarred man onto the city. Joker states that Dent is his "ace in the hole" in his plan to show the people of Gotham that everyone is corruptible, thus undoing Dent's work before his transformation into Two Face. Batman then angrily leaves a laughing Joker to dangle while he pursues Harvey Dent. A SWAT team point their guns at the Joker, and he is promptly arrested.
Joker's Fate[]
Heath Ledger, the actor who played the Joker, died due to an accidental drug overdose before the movie was released but luckily, after the filming of the film was done, or at least his part. Out of respect for him, the filmmakers did not even mention the Joker whatsoever in the following film, The Dark Knight Rises. Thus, it was unknown what happened to the Joker after he was arrested. But according to the original script of the third movie, it was likely stated that the Joker was imprisoned far away from Gotham City (possibly Guantanamo Bay), and was never heard from again. Another likely scenario was that he died by the time of Bane's revolution, possibly by Bane, because the Joker wanted anarchy in Gotham whereas Bane wanted to destroy it.
Even after Joker's defeat, Mayor Garcia was killed in at Gotham Stadium during Bane’s so-called liberation of Gotham; Bane even took the opportunity to finish up the Joker's work by exposing Dent's crimes to the public. The novelization of 'The Dark Knight Rises' placed Joker as possibly the one and only prisoner of Arkham Asylum, (the way Rudolf Hess was in Spandau Prison) or perhaps he escaped. Nobody is really sure.